Considering Flood's place at the top of the pecking order,
he's received the most blame from fans for the team's struggles. Although many
fans are calling for his head, Flood said he has no concerns about his job
security.

"I don't," Flood said in a conference call on Sunday. "Again,
I appreciate the fans and I know that they can be reactive at times, but I have
full confidence that the people who run athletics and run our university
understand the big picture and they understand that we're moving in the right
direction."

Flood has a 14-10 record in his two seasons at the helm. He
was the co-Big East coach of the year last season and with a win on Saturday against
South Florida he will have reached bowl games in each of his seasons.

That's not typically the resume of a coach on the chopping block, but
there is increased concern by such a poor finish during American Athletic
Conference play. The program is set to make an enormous leap when it joins the
Big Ten next season and there are questions if this staff is equipped to lead
the transition.

"I would tell the fans that I appreciate them and I love
them," Flood said. "I understand that fans can be overly emotional at times and
that's what makes college football so great. The fans really care. I don't
think they should have any concerns about the long-term direction of the program."

Flood pointed to the youth on the roster as a prime reason
for encouragement.

"All you have to do is look at the young players in the game
that we have playing and I think that will build your optimism on a day-to-day
basis," Flood said. "If you were around the program every day and you watched
how hard this team works and these young players work...do we want to be better
right now? Of course we do. Are we frustrated that we're not better right now?
Of course we are. But that will not discourage us in any way, and we will
continue to move this thing forward. They should have no concern whatsoever
that in the near future they're going to see a much better result in terms of
wins and losses than what they're seeing right now."